As the Fires Burn
by StrangeSpark
Summary: Tragedy strikes in the ruins of Station Square where our favorite heroes are battling for the freedom of the city under Eggman's control. Shadamy if you squint a bit. Rated for character death and a bit of blood.


The night was dark. Station Square was a ghost town this evening. In the distance, the orange light of fires glowed casting an eerie, rusty aura over the glass and steel towers. From these fires, smoke billowed into the sky. The city would look no different when the sun rose in a few hours; such was the thickness of the smoke. This part of the city was still though. Nothing moved save for an old sheet of newspaper. One side of this scrap of document sported a large black and white photo of a portly man with a giant bushy mustache and glasses. The headline emblazoned over the photo read: _Dr. Eggman Succeeds in Taking Over Station Square; Surviving Civilians Evacuated._ The article went on to describe the devastation and fall of the once brilliant and thriving city at the hands of the "Maniacal, mechanical madman." It also stated that the President had withdrawn all military forces and that only a small band of resistance remained in the city.

Explosions sounded in the distance and small figures could be seen running up the street. Small blasts followed them as they ran down the lane, trampling the newspaper article. Two were carrying a comrade between them and managing to keep up a fairly quick pace. The blue hedgehog between them pleaded with them incessantly, insisting that they leave him so they could get away and save themselves.

"For the last time, Sonic, no! We are not leaving you and that is final." Growled the red echidna on Sonic's left. Sonic made to protest again but more explosions drowned out his pleas. Behind them a white bat flew overhead, dodging smoke and shrapnel as mini bombs exploded in her face. She looked down at the last two members of their little resistance, who were busy covering the rear of the retreating party.

"Amy! Shadow! You guys holding up down there?" she shouted over the wind in her ears and the bomb blasts in the air. The pink hedgehog swung her enormous mallet over her head, batting away another rocket-propelled bomb as she yelled over her head.

"We're just _peachy_, Rouge! Don't worry about us and keep your eyes forward!" she flinched as the sound of gunfire split the air beside her. Shadow unleashed a short burst of bullets from his automatic rifle into the wall of androids that were slowly approaching the small group. There was an answering volley of bullets from the robotic line.

"Heads up Rose!" shouted the ebony hedgehog. Amy just nodded and ran a little ways in the direction of the trio of Sonic, Knuckles and Tails and jumped, reaching a bomb and whacking it like a batter into the ranks of humanoid robots. The resulting explosion and flying metal sent a smirk of accomplishment across her muzzle. She landed safely and reached for the semi-automatic pistol clipped to her hip.

"No good, Rose! Wait for a closer target!" Shadow yelled at her. She rolled her eyes and snorted but released her grip on the gun. From the front of the small pack, Tails called over his shoulder.

"Guys! Sonic's leg can't take much more stress! We need to find a place to stop and lay low for a little while!" Amy heard Shadow growl under his breath as he fired off a few more rounds. "We need a distraction guys!" Tails yelled. Shadow looked over at Amy a plan formulating in his superhuman mind.

"Rose, when I say so I want you to hit the ground with your hammer as hard as you can. Got it?" She smiled wickedly as she grasped the vague concept of his plan.

"As hard as I can. Are you sure you want me to do that?" There was a hint of dark glee in her voice, as if she couldn't wait to destroy as many robots as she could.

"As hard as it takes to crack that gas line under your feet, yes." Amy gripped her hammer tighter, shaking with anticipation. "Ready?"

"Ready when you are, Shads."

"Don't call me that." He growled at her, which only earned him a nonchalant shrug and a roll of bright green eyes. "Alright, stop here." They both skidded to a halt where Shadow indicated. They turned and faced the army of androids that had been pursuing them for who knew how long. "Ready?"

"God, Shadow! Yes I'm ready whenever you are! Just say the word." She declared, giving him her best stop-stalling-and-get-on-with-it look. This time it was Shadow's turn to roll his eyes. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and readied himself to perform his part of their dual distraction.

"Okay," Amy raised the mallet over her head, feeling her muscles tighten and willing herself to crack the gas line like Shadow had said. She smiled, she was ready and all she needed was her partner's signal. "Now!" She brought the hammer down hard on the asphalt, rending a giant crack in the street. She was rewarded with a hiss of escaping air and was certain she had succeeded in her endeavor. She covered her mouth with the crook of her elbow and the dirty, oil-stained sleeve of her shirt and looked over at Shadow—or rather at the place Shadow had been a few moments ago.

"Chaos Spear!" came the command from above her head. Her blood ran cold and her eyes widened. He brain screamed at her to run. Run!

The explosion propelled her forward and she hit the hard road surface, bouncing against the asphalt before skidding to a halt several hundred feet away from the blast site. Her ears were ringing and she was certain she had a cracked rib. Tasting blood in her mouth she spat and a white flash bounced across the pavement. She was vaguely aware that she was no longer holding her hammer. Holding her side, she struggled to her feet and saw Shadow rushing toward her from where he had obviously been tossed by the blast. He was shouting something at her but all she could hear was static fuzz in her ears. She was dazed and reached out for him. He reached her, grabbing her by the wrist he was still shouting and she thought he was saying something about roses tanning on the beach. She shook her head to try and rid herself of this accursed ringing.

"Rose! Come on! We didn't slow them down enough. We have to run now! Run with me, okay?!" Through her dazed expression he saw a flicker of recognition and took that as a sign of understanding. He started pulling Amy after him and after a stumbling start she began to keep up. His mind flashed back to a similar scenario that took place almost sixty-five years ago now. He shook his head; he had to stay in the present right now. He had to get Amy and himself to safety.

He saw a small white strip of cloth hanging in the doorway of an abandoned building. That was their sign to each other, the cloth represented a safe haven and that was exactly what they needed right now. It was only a little further. He was parallel to the door and saw Sonic and the others hunkered down just past the threshold. He heard the sounds of gunfire rip the air from behind them and turned to dive for the doorway. He turned back to look at Amy to see how she was holding up when time seemed to grind to a halt.

He watched in slow motion as a bullet fired by one of the androids ricocheted off the pavement and hit Amy in the side she was clutching with the hand that wasn't grasping his. It pierced the back of her hand and then her side. She screamed, a far away noise that didn't reach his ears until it was too late to do anything about it. He felt her slowly let go of his hand in response to the pain. He could hear himself yell her name as if he was hearing it from underwater, dull and far away. He watched her hit the ground and felt himself change course. He reached her side as time resumed normal speed and he suddenly found he was shouting her name while his brain screamed at him. _'No, no, no, no, no! Not again! Don't do this to me again!' _He couldn't breathe, he couldn't hear, and he couldn't feel. There was nothing but Amy right now and the bullet that was lodged deep inside her body.

"Amy!" he finally heard his own voice call her name and became instantly aware of everything surrounding him. Bullets were flying past his head and peppering the ground ahead of him. His friends were standing in the doorway of the building yelling at him to get to cover. Amy was turning her head to look at him, smiling. It looked like an odd thing to do with a pool of blood expanding under her right side.

"I'm okay, Shadow, really. Leave me here." Her voice was small and feeble and she winced every time she inhaled. "You get to cover, I'm right behind you." A bullet landed with a sharp 'ping!' on the road near Amy's head and she flinched but kept smiling. "Go, Shadow. You have to go! I'll be ok, I swear." he shook his head and pulled her upper half onto his lap in the hopes it would make her feel safer.

"No, not again." He found that he was shaking and his fists were clenching and unclenching almost by themselves. "I'm not going to run away again." Amy seemed to be listening but her eyes were becoming increasingly unfocused. He knew that look and he hated it, hated what it meant for her. His shaking was becoming more and more violent by the second. He was so consumed by his thoughts and surroundings he nearly missed it when Amy spoke next.

"Shadow," she whispered, taking a shuddering breath. "Make me a promise?" His teeth were clenched so he simply nodded. Amy took a breath and deep in her throat he could hear a sickening gurgle. "Live." Blood trickled from her mouth and her shuddering breaths slowed and then stopped altogether. Amy Rose died in the ruins of an abandoned Station Square, cradled in the arms of Shadow the Hedgehog. He was vaguely aware that he had been surrounded by the androids some time ago and that none were firing at him. The whirr of a hovercraft engine puttered behind the black hedgehog.

"Ooohh! Did my androids do that? Oh well! I guess they can't tell one hedgehog from the other. They were going for you or Sonic. I didn't even care about her. She could have gone free when this was all over. Oh well." Doctor Eggman bumbled on and on while Shadow slowly stood, making sure to be gentle when setting Amy's head on the ground. It tore at something inside him to see her so lifeless but with her usually bright eyes wide open and dull. Amy Rose, who had always been the first to offer a cheery attitude in a bleak situation, who fought with all she had when her friends faced danger, and who knew him better than anyone simply because she had taken the time to get to know him. He felt a small tear escape his stinging eyes, roll down his face and fall into the pool of blood at his feet. Something snapped inside him and he felt the anger, hatred, and fury course through his body along with something else, something…much more powerful.

"Well, since you're no fun to talk to anymore, I think I'll go and try to program these bolt buckets to actually shoot the right hedgehog this time." Eggman laughed at his own sick joke and spun his hovercraft around waving behind him. "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog!" That did it. That was the last straw! Without turning around, Shadow forced all of his anger, resentment, and hatred into the name of the man who had robbed a young, happy girl of a life she had barely started living.

"EGGMAN!" he roared. The doctor turned in his seat, ready to throw more barbs at his former teammate. What he saw made a cold shiver worm its way up and down his spine. Shadow was enveloped in a golden light that seemed to be radiating from within the hedgehog.

"That's not possible."

* * *

"Knuckles, I think you might want to take a look at this." Tails summoned the echidna to the window of their impromptu safe house. He saw a glowing, golden Shadow standing over Amy's pale, lifeless body. The pair stood at the window and watched him turn on Eggman, who, for once, seemed too stunned for words.

"I don't believe it. He's gone Super without the help of the Chaos Emeralds." Tails looked up at Knuckles with wide eyes and asked his friend.

"Has that ever happened before?"

"I don't know Tails." They watched as Shadow slowly approached Eggman, the golden light radiating from him as though he were some small sun here on Earth. The look on his face sent a shiver up Tails' spine. He looked devoid of any emotion except sheer, unadulterated hate. In this state, nothing short of murder would appease him. Footsteps from behind the pair made them turn to see Rouge who had a worried expression on her face. Unlike Tails and Knuckles, she had not seen Amy get hit just outside the doorway.

"What's going on, boys?" A look out the window sent her large ears flat against her head and her hand up to cover her mouth. "Oh no. Not Amy." She looked at the duo seriously and said simply. "This is going to kill Sonic." The two simply nodded in agreement. A grunt from Knuckles caught Tails' attention and her turned back to look at him.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just thinking." He stared out the window for another moment, before he begrudgingly made up his mind to retrieve his friend's body. "Come on Tails. We'll go get Amy while Shadow has them distracted." Tails nodded and followed Knuckles out of the room while Rouge went back to Sonic who was trying to walk using the wall as a crutch.

"What's going on, Rouge? Where are Shadow and Amy?" he demanded through winces of pain. The bandages around his shin were soaked through with blood and some of the dark liquid escaped down his leg, matting his blue fur. Rouge said nothing in response. Sonic limped closer, his face attempting to mask the immense pain he was experiencing.

"Sit down Sonic. You're not going to get any better if you keep trying to walk." Rouge tried to reason with him. But he set his jaw and asked again.

"Rouge, where is Amy?" he asked slowly, making sure to enunciate every word so it got through her thick, batty skull that he didn't care what happened to his measly leg. He was more concerned about the girl he had left in Shadow's care.

"Sit down, Hun. You're no good to us if you d—" she was cut off by the sound of Tails and Knuckles barging through the door. Tails was shouting something unintelligible and Knuckles was carrying something. A pink something. A pink body. Sonic felt his legs go weak beneath him and the blood drain from his face. He was lightheaded and there was a dull buzzing in his ears. It took him a moment to realize that he was speaking.

"Amy…"

* * *

Shadow turned to face Eggman and felt an immense satisfaction at the terrified look on the rotund doctor's face. He felt his power rushing through him and it was a good feeling, fueled by the hate and anger of the man before him, if he could even be called a man. Taking another moment to revel in the powerful feeling he was experiencing he began to walk forward into the android line.

"A-androids, attack that hedgehog!" the doctor commanded. Shadow expected nothing less and was prepared. He opened his mouth to summon the power of Chaos Control but before he could voice his command a bright light enveloped him and he felt the world pass by at blinding speed and suddenly he was directly in front of Eggman, balancing on the edge of the hovercraft. Once again he basked in the fear he saw in the psychotic man's face.

"You will pay for taking her life, Doctor." he snarled reaching out and snatching Eggman up by his collar.

"Please, Shadow, please don't kill me! It wasn't mean to be—" suddenly a pained scream echoed through the abandoned street, cutting off the doctor's feeble attempts at bargaining for his life. It continued for several moments, filling the air with pent up anger and sorrow before exhausting itself and petering out. With a scowl, Shadow turned back to Eggman and growled at him.

"You should count yourself lucky that I got to you first. I would hate to think what _he_ would have done to you. At least with me, your end will be fast." This time he didn't even bother opening his mouth to command the chaos energies. He simply thought of his destination and he and Eggman were immediately enveloped in blinding light.

The earth was beautiful from space. A lovely blue and green sphere covered in sporadic white clouds. Shadow remembered how much he had wanted to visit that small, beautiful planet. He could remember the hours spent with Maria just gazing at the planet, talking about how nice it would be to visit it. Now however, when he looked down at the slowly rotating sphere, he could see nothing but a large black smudge. The smoke from the devastated city only served as a reminder of what he was doing here and of the shivering, sniveling coward of a man he now held by the throat. The reminder angered him further and he turned on Eggman.

"You deserve so much worse than this." He snarled. The doctor couldn't gain enough breath to answer or beg so he simply gasped in the thin atmosphere like a fish caught on a line. Shadow snorted at the pathetic man before him. "You're no better than the soldiers that took Maria away from me. I was too helpless to do anything then, but now," he smirked dangerously. "Now I have more than enough power to do what needs to be done." He brought Eggman, whose face was turning blue and whose nose was beginning to bleed, close so that they were almost nose-to-nose. He took one last look at the man's terrified expression and whispered with as much venom as he could muster. "Now burn."

He turned to face the beautiful blue planet again; raising his arm over his head he used all the strength in his body to hurl Dr. Eggman toward it. In the silence of space, there was no screaming or crying or blubbering. There was only a disappearing black dot that slowly turned red and then yellow as it reentered the atmosphere. Then it disappeared altogether. Taking a last look at the planet, Shadow called mentally to the energies around him and felt the light envelop him.

He appeared back in the safe house and slowly felt the power within him ebb away. He walked into the burnt-out living room where he saw Knuckles consoling Rouge with an arm around her shoulder. Tails was kneeling beside Sonic, patting his back slowly. Sonic, meanwhile, was doubled over almost like he was being sick. He regularly pounded the floor with his fist and muttered in a strangled voice to himself. Amy lay on the blackened couch, eyes closed, with her entire right side covered in blood. One hand rested on her stomach while the other dangled lifelessly from the edge of the couch. Blood dripped slowly from her fingers into a small puddle on the floor. She looked like she was sleeping and would wake up any second. But she was eerily still and much too limp to just be sleeping. Shadow felt his heart twist in his chest, but ignored it for the time being. He stepped forward and everyone looked at him, save for Sonic who was still doubled over in front of the sofa.

"Eggman is dead." He announced.

* * *

**Ok! Wow so I guess I've come full circle now since my first fanfic was a Shadamy one. What a difference eight years makes right? Background! Right well I'm guessing this is about ten years after the ARK incident or something so that would make Amy about 22? Sure why not! Well for now this is just a oneshot but I do feel a second chapter coming on so be on the alert!**


End file.
